


A Century Of Ash

by irond0rkness



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Also Tony Is Alive But Right Now Only For Angst Purposes, Andros Is A Semi-Good Bro, Angst, Everyone Needs A Hug, Extremis Tony Stark, Future Fic, Gen, I Will Write More Of This, Iron dad and Spider son, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, This Is Weird But I Kind Of Like This Fic, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2019-11-07 23:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17969996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irond0rkness/pseuds/irond0rkness
Summary: The Snap has reverted on its own, bringing everyone back.The dusted have been brought back to life, but it has been a long time since the fight against Thanos.A century has passed.





	1. The Return

**Author's Note:**

> I started this fic a long time ago and planned to finish it, but since I left it hanging for a long time I realized that Endgame is almost around the corner, threatening to make my fic completely irrelevant.
> 
> I wanted to share this fic with all of you, so I split it into chapters and I'm planning to write more of it. (let's hope I will be able to finish it)

Peter's eyes snapped open.  
He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to forget the way he turned into ash.  
When he was sure that none of his limbs were about to get dusty, the boy sighed and relaxed.

Peter observed his surroundings and realized that he was alone.  
Not completely alone, the other heroes were there as well, with Dr. Strange was walking towards him.

He was alone. Mr. Stark wasn't here and Peter was surrounded by strangers.

Mr. Stark, the man, and the hero he saw as his mentor, even as his father figure. The man who helped him, made Peter his suit, was there for him and comforted him when he was about to die. 

"Spider-man. Are you alright?" asked Stephen.

"Uh, yea, Mr. Strange. Where are Mr. Stark and Miss Nebula? Why does this place look so different? How are we going to get home?" asked Peter, the worried questions spilling from his mouth.

Strange hesitated for a second and then said: "I don't know," but as soon as the kid's face fell, he quickly assured, "But we are going to figure it out soon. Everything should have at least a semi-logical explanation. And we can go home with Starlord's spaceship"

Right as he said it, Starlord yelled: "I think we have a bit of a problem here! I can't find my ship anywhere!"

Strange turned around and joined the group, discussing ways to get home and where Tony and Nebula could possibly be.

By doing so, he left Spider-man alone with his thoughts.  
Peter realized something and he semi-whispered: "There are no signs of a battle. The moon pieces that purple guy threw are covered by that red dust and I'm pretty sure that those buildings weren't as broken before."

Before he could tell that to the others, a bright rainbow light appeared, alerting everyone.  
They raised their weapons, ready to attack, but lowered them as soon as the light faded and Thor became visible.

Next to him was Iron Man. Peter thought that the armor looked a little funny, not quite something he would expect from his mentor.  
He liked the new color scheme though. Bronze and blue looked very regal and threatening in his opinion. 

Iron Man didn't react at first, so the boy assumed it was just an AI inside.

Thor looked different as well, his hair was long and flowing, half of it in a bun and the other half left sweeping onto his shoulders. His outfit was much more geometrical than he remembered from the newsreels, but he thought it was just new space fashion.

The god embraced all of them, his face both happy and somber.

Iron Man just stood there, boredom in his stance. A low noise sounded from it, like an electronic sigh.

When Thor was finished, the armored hero said: "Are you taking another century with them or are you actually going to take us back? Because I really don't want to be the one to shatter their dreams."

The voice was robotic, but had a slight accent to it. Even the way he pronounced some words was different. 

Before anyone could ask about Iron Man's words, the thunder god raised his ax and multicolored, shifting light enveloped them, slightly like the beam Thanos's children used, but faster and seemingly more friendly. The light was too bright to see anything through it, but all knew that they were traveling fast, even faster than light itself.

 

____________________________

 

They landed on a circular plate, the light burning it. It seemed to be made for this kind of transportation, as the plate had been burned almost black and was the exact size of the light surrounding them.

Iron Man stepped off it and his armor flowed off like water, leaving behind a man with slightly graying reddish-brown hair and a bodysuit in different shades of blue and gray. 

Before he got far, Thor shouted: "Andros, where are you going?"

The man turned around, but continued walking and answered: "I was only there for the escort. I actually have to do things, like help the people stuck in something when they appeared. Anything necessary. You deal with the costumed gang."  
His face was a little like Tony's, but his eyes and hair were completely different. Andros had a beard as well, but it lacked the regality and precise geometry of Tony Stark's one.

"Am I blind or was the dude not IronDouche? Are there more armored snarksters running around?"

Thor's expression turned somber and he said: I will tell you everything soon. But before that, we need to get into somewhere private. There are too many people around," he gestured to the crowd of confused people who were surrounded by another, different group of people.

Everyone around them had weird clothing on, except the confused people, they had normal, everyday clothing.

Compared to the odd people, all of them seemed to be slightly shorter on average.

"Mr. Thor, are these people Asgardians? What is this place?"

Thor was stayed quiet and just walked on, silently motioning them to follow him.

As they walked along the path, the weirdness didn't cease.  
In fact, things got even odder as it went on.

Early on, Peter realized that the pathway was curving slightly, yet the curving was tiny, meaning that if that was a full circle, it would have to stretch on for at least a couple of miles. 

The walls were a neutral gray that seemed to shift in shade constantly but didn't emit any light whatsoever. The lighting came from thin wires running in each corner of the perfectly square hallway.

There wasn't a single door on the sides of the hallway, yet new people appeared constantly, seemingly stepping out of the walls.  
None of them was even remotely surprised to see them, they acted like it was normal to see a group of ratty, injured and dusty superheroes in odd costumes walking along that perfect, pristine path.

"This is so freaky," whispered Peter and saw that some of the adults were nodding to him.

Right after that, Thor stopped, turned right and suddenly the seamless wall slid away to reveal an office-like room.

Even that was oddly perfect, but Thor's unique style and charm were all over it.

Everything from the color scheme to the miniature deep black ax statue on the table screamed the thunder god's name.

"Now will you tell us what the actual fuck is going on or will you take us another mile deeper into a circle?" asked Quill, a deep frown on his face, his arms crossed.

The others were silent, yet the way they held themselves mirrored Starlord's.

Thor sighed and spoke in deep sorrow: "We never undid the Snap. We might have beaten Thanos, but the Infinity Stones were destroyed."

Drax butted in: "Then how are we alive? Did you manage to undo it now?"

Thor seemed to be on the verge of tears when he said: "No. No, we did not. It undid itself, but not at first. I'm sorry, it has been exactly one hundred Earth years since half the universe disappeared."

Panic engulfed them all. A hundred years has passed for half the universe, yet the other half had just popped in like nothing happened at all.

Peter couldn't stop thinking. All of his friends that remained are probably dead. Mr. Stark is dead, there's no way for a man in his forties to be able to live another century. Everything that he knew is gone. None of his pop culture references are relevant anymore.

He started giggling to the last one, but it turned to wet croaking halfway through.

When he regained the barest scraps of composure, he saw that the others weren't faring too well either.

Drax and Starlord looked seemingly unaffected, yet their eyes betrayed the emotions deep inside of them. Mantis couldn't really understand the meaning really that well, but she didn't need to touch anyone and use her empathy powers to be able to feel the sadness in the room.

Strange was stricken, his eyes glassy and sweat beading on his brow. He was barely holding himself up on the table and the cloak was tightly wrapped around him to comfort him and possibly being the only thing keeping him from landing on the floor

"What is going to happen to us?" he asked weakly, his already shaking hands trembling, clenching and unclenching.

"We are working on it. Or at least trying to work on it. So many people just appeared and most of them don't have homes, friends, parents or children anymore," the thunder god tried to assure, but it wasn't hopeful or happy. It was dull like he had already told the same to many other people so many times, that he ceased to believe in it.

"C-Can you give us the list of people who disappeared?" Peter thought for a moment and continued, "Is there even a list, Mr. Thor?"

To this, he smiled sadly, took something from the table, tapped a little on it and handed over a paper-thin, flexible screen with the map of the world on it.

Peter took it, tapped on New York, then Queens and the street where his aunt and he used to live.

A list of names appeared, but none of them was his aunt. The boy read through it, read again and then opened the search bar and typed in May's full name.

There were no results. Not a single one. He searched for just May Parker.

A ton of results appeared, yet none of them was his aunt. 

Panicked, he tried to find his classmates, his friends, the heroes and everyone he knew.

Ned hadn't disappeared. MJ had. Falcon, the Scarlet Witch, and many other heroes had also been dusted away.

His eyes welled up with tears and he cried, slid down the side of the table until he was sitting on the ground. 

Surprisingly, the others followed and soon they were all sitting on a soft carpet, next to a huge office table, on the side of a circular hallway, in New York, in a universe that had moved on while half its population had disappeared into nothing.

Half the population, that had now appeared back.

Peter cried until finally, his exhaustion took over and he passed out.


	2. A Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter wakes up and gets help from an unexpected ally.

When he woke, he was in another room, laying on a soft bed with silky sheets.

The room was impossibly tiny, yet it had everything he could ever need in an apartment.

There were transparent doors leading to a bathroom and one leading to a kitchen, both limiting and minimal, teetering on the edge of being claustrophobic.

While surveying the area, he had somehow missed a man sitting on gray couch just a few meters away from the Spider.

He recognized the man. It was Andros, the fluke Iron Man, or maybe not so fluke.

Everything came rushing back. 

His best friend was dead, Aunt May dead, his Dad dead.

Before he could start crying though, he realized that Andros was still in the room with him and to stop further embarrassment, he willed the tears at bay.

He could not break down in front of strangers again. Now that would put a big dent in his not-yet-accustomed-reputation.

The new Iron Man noticed his wakefulness and spoke: “Well, little man, how was the blow to the future? Guess it must be harsh for you. Hey, now half the population that was snippy snapped from existence are new Captain Americas.”

“I’m really sorry, mister, but who are you?”

“Oh yeah, I’m Andros Stark, the grandson of Tony Stark. I also happen to be the man who took up the Iron Man mantle.”

“W-What happened to Mr. Stark? How did he die?” peter’s voice trembled, not really wanting to know.

To Peter’s surprise, Andros started laughing, and a part of him slowly died. The new armored hero was really not a nice person. He thought he could be trusted, like Mr Stark’s grandson was trusted with the mantle of a hero. A true hero, not someone who laughed because a kid asked about their grandparents.

“Little Spider, or whatever your name is, I gotta break another big piece of news to you. Grandpapa Tony is alive and kicking, even though I don’t think he really gives two shits whether or how you live or die.  
Long-living people usually learn to let go of the people they used to care for, and don’t appreciate kids like you just barging into their lives like they are still hot shit. Get it?” Andros’s face contorted, like he was protective of his granddad, like he thought anything Spider-man did could hurt Tony Stark, the real Iron Man.

That made Peter incredibly mad. All his insults that he had ever suppressed rose to the surface like wildfire.

“YOU’RE WRONG! TONY DOES CARE FOR ME,” he jumped off the couch in agitation, but then the emotions dared to bubble over and he stopped for a little, but then continued, “If he was alive, he would be here, he wouldn’t send this fluke of a hero who doesn’t have a heart and only brings people down!” the boy’s voice wasn’t as strong as before, but still carried hatred.

Strong, metal arms surrounded Spider-man and he melted in the familiarity of it.  
Tony’s armor felt different, but Andros’s was still similar enough to remind him of the few hugs the real Iron Man gave him, when his dad’s warm eyes would twinkle whenever he was proud of Peter or when he just made him laugh.

Tears escaped his eyes this time, but the boy did let himself feel sorry for very long.

He had to see Tony. He had to. There was no way he didn’t care anymore. No way.

“Spider-man, I know it’s hard, but things are very difficult right now. If you want, we can track down all your dusted buddies.”

“That would be great,” whispered Peter, his mind almost completely in acceptance of the fact that it was Tony hugging him and everything was fine.

“Alright, then there’s no need for hugs,” Andros stated and let go, almost letting the teen fall to the ground in shock. 

“I will give you a computer, the instructions how to use it, a temporary dusty people ID and a transport code,” the armor formed each object as he listed it, “If you can figure out how the shower works, I think you can get a map and ask some directions. You have periwinkle level access, don’t abuse it and don’t go looking for people you don’t actually have any actual contact to.”

“Thanks, Mr. Andros, that’s really nice of you. But I don’t know about going out alone. Could someone come with me?”

“What for? You have a map, a safety drone, a superhero suit, and superpowers. What else do you want?” Iron Man was on his way out, dropped the things on the other couch and left the room.

The clanking of his boots was nonexistent, but even if they had any sound, there was no way the walls would allow the sound to pass through into his apartment.

Peter took the ultra-thin computer, and with the help of an actual book of instructions, he turned it on by tapping a certain sequence on the screen and side of it.

It flashed into life, and on its screen, a logo appeared.

Stark InterGalactic was shining in all its glory all across the surface of it and then exploded into hexagons, creating a grouped screen.

He looked through the book and in a few taps, he accessed the Internet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter accesses the internet of the future, unknowing the things he will find there

He didn't recognize the browser but he knew that he was in the right place.

Peter’s new tech giddiness subsided and was replaced with sadness.

It wasn’t the present, now everything he had ever known was the long gone past.

Forcing it down, he entered his own name into the search engine.

Tons of results appeared, but all of them were dated in the 2080s and upwards.

Spider-man tried to narrow it down with the time period and was greeted by the comfort of old news from the 2010s. The whole style of it was reminiscent to the time period he knew so well and cherished more than he could ever cherish the new present.

He was scared at first, but then with trembling hands, he typed in “Tony Stark”, leaving the time period the same.

He sorted them by order and was amazed by the spottiness of the web results. One was from a few days after the Snap, the next a few weeks later and so on.

It seemed like the whole Internet had slowed down and almost halted with the disappearing of half the population. 

Guess it was a little unnecessary to write blog articles about a celebrity while the whole world was mourning their loved ones and their heroes. 

He scrolled further and further on, taking in Mr. Stark’s efforts to rebuild everything from the ground up, sometimes clicking on interesting articles, seeing him marry, introduce his children and then, in 2027, get dosed with a super soldier serum.

The moment Peter reached that point, he closed the browser and tried to calm down. 

It was all just so overwhelming, so unreal. He wished he could just go to sleep and wake up in his time, be excited about Aunt May making pancakes and going on missions with Iron Man.

He swallowed the sadness for the time being and typed in Iron Man and braced himself as he sorted by newest first.

Expecting to see something about Andros, he was disappointed, yet surprised to see that the article was about the real Iron Man, Tony Stark.

There was a photo attached. 

On it was Mr. Stark in his armor. The color scheme was different. Gone was the red and gold and it was replaced by a regal blue and gold. 

The glowing part of the armor was now a perfect heptagon and the lines of the armor were elegant, yet had the geometric theme that seemed to be everywhere in this odd time period.

The man’s helmet was off and revealed that Mr. Stark didn’t look as old as he remembered him being. 

His laugh lines were almost gone and the gray hair that had threatened to overtake for a long time had been fought off by the charcoal black, thick locks.

If Peter was being honest, the man in the photo looked more like a 30-year-old rather than someone who was nearing their 150s.

The most contrasting thing on it was actually the color of his eyes. 

They weren’t soft, inviting brown he remembered of yesterday.   
Instead, all Peter saw was the cold, wise and powerful blue, that would look odd in the Tony Stark he used to know, but seemed to fit this Iron Man better than any other color imaginable.

He seemed happy and carefree, not looking like he spared a single thought on the dusted heroes and most importantly, Peter.

Well, now, least importantly for Tony.

Taking a big breath, he tried to calm down.

That was not what he could ever have imagined. Everything in here was upside down and inside out, made to not make sense.

The boy clenched his fists but unclenched them to do what he was actually supposed to do: find a map of the city and his friends.

The map was easy to find, taking him only 40 minutes of frustrated internet surfing. Once he found it, the tiny safety drone that had been idly hovering at his side scanned it and sent a message to his phone to follow it to the destination whenever he was ready.

With his high access level, he found MJ and the so-called ‘protection area’ that the reappeared people were rounded into.

After he had changed his clothes into more modern, yet more complicated ones, he was finally ready.


	4. Chapter 4

With shaking hands, he pressed his hand on the panel and stepped out of the opening which it had created.

Peter was unrecognizable, his clothes and backpack were completely different. He truly hoped the weird clasps on the jacket were done correctly, even though he couldn't be blamed if they were wrong since he could pull the foreign era card.

Even he felt different, the weariness and shock still deep in his bones.

As he walked across the hallway, nobody spared a glance at him, even when he checked the map despite the drone moving at an even pace a few feet away from him.

At last, Spider-man reached a quarter point in the circle and went through a portal leading to the city.

The moment he saw it, he was breathless due to the beauty and sheer size of everything. It looked like he was in a sci-fi. Hell, this was sci-fi for him, a boy from the early 21st century, being as much out of his comfort zone as Captain America had been.

Odd-looking people walked past him, a couple of aliens waited in sky train stops.

According to the map and the drone, that was exactly where he was supposed to go, so Peter quickly walked there, worried that he might miss it. 

That gave him barely the time to admire the building towering all around him, yet he barely slowed down to bask in their glory.

Smooth and elegant skyscrapers were all connected with sky trains, all of it looking like a metal spiderweb woven in a city.

The boy truly hoped that this was downtown, there was no way such magnificent things were in the middle part of the city, but also dreading what the center might look like if this was true.

He was shaken from his thoughts when the tiny spherical drone nudged his side and floated towards the train that had just arrived. 

He stepped in, took a seat and waited for his destination. Peter had no idea how he had to pay for the ride, but he saw everyone else just sitting down when they entered so he assumed that in the future, public transport was free.

While he was moving, he fidgeted on his backpack strap, unknowing if he was even going to be let into the facility to meet the people he knew, if they even wanted to see him at all or they were more worried about the situation they were in.

The train stopped and the drone floated away, leaving Peter to follow it to a large building with a robot in front of its door as if guarding it against something.

As soon as the boy approached, it pointed its weapon towards him but after a few seconds, stepped aside and the door it had been defending slid open.

Thinking it meant he could enter, he walked inside where he saw a hallway and an opening at the end of it. The opening was slightly tinted, but it wasn't solid enough to resemble a glass door, more like a forcefield.

Nobody there was stopping him, so he kept a fast pace, almost running towards the opening. He knew they were there, he knew it. The moment he reached it, he could get back his friends and he wouldn't be alone anymore in this strange, futuristic world.

The glimmering green sheen let him through and the first thing he saw was the people. They were huddled in groups, fear and confusion on their faces while other ones in uniforms that were white with a couple of blue details stood around and commanded some of them around.

Peter searched for familiar faces while he just stood in the middle of the groups, the drone he had just named Bubbles hovering next to his shoulder, having nothing to do after guiding its owner to the destination.

It was getting too loud, the angry undusted yelling, the ones in uniform shouting back at them, the steady hum of Bubbles, it was loud. He tried to focus on faces but everything was getting too fast for him. 

The situation was just too much for him, even the overhead lights that previously weren't a problem were seeming too bright. The backpack was uncomfortable on his back, weighing him down, the strap he had been clutching felt like sandpaper.

Why had he thought this was a good idea? He was wrong to be here, in this place, in this era, around these people, in the middle of all that noise. 

Then, to make things worse, someone tapped his shoulder and he spun around in shock, ready to punch anyone who wanted to oppose him.

He was surprised to not see an angry or determined face, ready to slam him into the wall. Instead, there was another one of the people in uniform, this one looking at him with equal parts annoyance and confusion, their eyebrows knitted together.

"Hey, kid. What's the year and how did you get here?" they asked, now seeming more suspicious than anything else, analyzing him and observing him from top to bottom, their eyes narrowing.

Peter was off guard and the answer that came into his mind had a hard time passing his lips. He tried to speak, but all that he could manage was a stuttering whisper that sounded pathetic even to him.

He tried again and this time he managed to get it out a little louder: "2118. An-," he took a breath to calm himself and to keep the words from turning into a fast jumble, "Andros Stark allowed me access to find some people here."

They still looked conflicted, but their tone was friendlier after they made a hologram screen appear and it confirmed Peter's access level: "You will have to wait on the side a bit, we haven't identified them yet so unless you want to search through thousands of people manually," they frowned at the screen that hadn't disappeared and diverted their eyes at him again, "Sorry, I don't see your name on the access permit, could you tell it to me?"

"Uh, it's Peter, Peter Parker," he stammered out.

"Then it's sorted, I will come back to you later, you go get some food from over there or just sit around. Just stay out of the way while we do this, okay?" he said and pointed to the direction of the snack and drink area.

Peter walked through the crowd, still feeling a little overwhelmed by all this. People parted, thinking he was another one of the future people until he saw a familiar face.

His eyes met the confused ones of MJ.


	5. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter meets a familiar face at last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly, i have no idea what this is its almost time for me to sleep so if its bad tell me to never write when tired

"Peter!" she yelled, her voice desperate, the usual chill attitude gone and replaced by fear and confusion.

His eyes widened and stepped towards her. He gasped out: "MJ! You're okay!"

"What's going on? The last time I saw you, you jumped out the bus window, now you're here, looking like..," she gestured in his general direction, "this."

The boy couldn't speak, the words trapped in his mouth even if they tried to burst out the hardest they could. His eyes burned with upcoming tears threatening to spill.

At last, he regained his voice and he spoke: "We disappeared. MJ, it's been a hundred years."

Her usually sparkling and witty eyes became faraway and glassy and she tried to reassure herself: "You're lying, right. This is a trick, right? All these people were rounded up by those strange people into this weird building for tricks, oh fuck, fuck, fuck. You're telling the truth, aren't you?"

Unsure what to do, Peter offered: "Would you like a hug?"

She nodded and wrapped her arms around him tightly and whispered while the tears could be heard in her voice: "Don't mention it, Parker, or I will smack you."

They broke free from the hug and without warning, a man walked by with a device in their hands. The moment he passed them, a glowing ring appeared around her wrist. Her head snapped to the side to see the man and yell at him but stopped when he saw that everyone else had gotten it as well.

Some stepped out of line and charged towards the man, only to be neutralized before they even reached him, dropping to the ground like stones and dragged back into the crowd by the people in it.

Peter saw the bracelet form around his wrist as well, but as soon as the hologram ends met, it folded back into itself and for a short time, a message containing an apology and his access level could be seen.

The people started moving towards something, the lines inching slightly further with every passing second, trying to reach an unseen goal.

"Where are we going?" could be heard from the crowd multiple times, with more complaints sounding as well.

MJ-s bracelet sparked into life and it read: Housing Unit 305, Room - Apricot.

"Wha-? Apricot?" she said, confuzzled, before realizing that she was holding the line after someone knocked into her. MJ started moving like the rest of the people, Peter walking on the side, in the middle of two queues, sticking out like a sore thumb in between the people wearing 21st century clothing, his futuristic clothes making him look like an alien.

The line made its way to the door and out of it, people each went their own way, seemingly on their own accord, yet they looked like someone was showing them the way like with a GPS.

She took a course to the right and begun to walk as a glowing pair of hologram glasses appeared on his face, showing her the way to wherever they wanted her to go. She acted like in a trance, not showing any sign of compliance nor rebellion, just trying to reach her goal which was not chosen by herself.

Peter waved a hand in front of her eyes, but she just brushed it away and continued without stopping for a moment.

He gave up on trying to shake her out of the trance, so he took a look at the surrounding architecture, yet seeing only dull houses ahead, looking like they were made hastily, without much care for how they appeared.

They were different from anything else in the vicinity, where the buildings were regal and reflected the futuristic style of the current era. The ones up ahead were gross cubes that were empty and had trucks in front of all of them, with drones whizzing by with packages, ready to land there.

The people native to this time quickly changed their trajectory and headed elsewhere to avoid the mass of people in a strange trance coming their way.

Nobody spared a glance at him, the unsnapped ones were doing what the bracelets told them and anyone that hadn't gotten away from the pathway was too busy trying to get through to notice a teen.

He tried not to lose her from her sight, yet the others pushed and walked past him until he couldn't see her anymore. That made him worry. How was he going to find the one friend that he had in this complicated future era?

All he knew was MJ's room name - Apricot, which was rather strange, but so had been his access level name.

This whole world was upside down and he was alone again with nobody to keep him company while he was alone and there were only strangers around him and they were pushing him they were everywhere make them stop please go away I want to be around the ones I know stop touching me.

Peter forced himself to snap out of the spiraling thoughts within his head, yet every time he tried the intruding people seemed to get closer, more uncaring, shoving him and pushing him until he was pushed out of the crowd and he tripped, dropping onto the grass near the pathway.

They passed by him, uncaring. He got up and ran towards the beginning of the mass of people until he saw the building with 305 written on it with huge letters and sprinted faster, trying to reach it before anyone else did. No matter how fast he went, he saw the first person entering and the rest following into the huge building.

So, like any reasonable person, he stood near the entrance and scanned the crowd for MJ or anyone he knew.

Peter thought he saw one of his classmates, but she flitted by too fast for him to process it at all.

He gave up, sat down and looked around to see the magnificent structures reaching towards the stars, only to look back at the shoddy, hastily built box with tons of tiny windows going in straight rows, no emotion or personality in it.

When all of them had entered, he pressed inside alongside them and tried to find the room. The list was on a screen, yet it took him time to find Apricot from the disordered mess of color names.

Peter worried on his jacket, playing with the metal scales on it.

At last, he arrived behind the door behind which MJ should currently be.

Taking a deep breath, he reached his hand to rest on the lock, verified his access level and pushed the door open.


End file.
